I don't watch TNG as much as I probably should anymore, but whenever it's on say BBC America or WGN, I will stick on that episode and watch it. It happened a few weeks ago with The Offspring, and it happened tonight when I caught the final 10 minutes of This Amazing Episode.
When I tuned it, they were just about to get to one of TNG's most remarkable scenes in the entire series (Picard having to experience Sarek's Anguish) and I just couldn't turn away. This scene almost gives me chills every time, probably now more than ever because I had actually just seen Journey to Babel a few nights ago. Just seeing Sir Patrick Stewart eat up the scenery in that scene alone was as close to epic as you can get. In that mental breakdown, it's almost as if you can feel that same anguish, that same guilt, and it's just one of my favorite moments in the entire Franchise.
TNG often get's criticized as not being respectful to the original and I think the mentality of that is they should bow down to the cast. I mean look at some of the complaints against Relics. Scotty was mistreated, Geordi should have gone out of his way to treat Scotty as royalty, especially in Engineering. Then you had DS9's Trials and Tribble-Ations and my one big complaint against that episode, it was still awesome, was DS9 went out of it's way to bow down to the original series. I see an episode like Sarek, and I think this is more of the crossovers I really wanted to see. Perhaps it's because I came to like Star Trek after TNG and DS9, but this series didn't bow down to the original. They took one of the popular characters, gave him a mental illness, and it was handled in one of the most delicate and respectful ways you could handle it. Also, when the Captain gives up himself to save this man's dignity, I just think how much more respectful can you be.
I know I'm rambling just on the final ten minutes, but this is really why I love TNG. It dealt with things not using action like Voyager or Enterprise, but letting the characters/actors do their thing and just step back. I'm not sure If I would put "Sarek" in my top 10, but it comes really really close. Just another amazing episode to go with an amazing season like Season 3.
When I tuned it, they were just about to get to one of TNG's most remarkable scenes in the entire series (Picard having to experience Sarek's Anguish) and I just couldn't turn away. This scene almost gives me chills every time, probably now more than ever because I had actually just seen Journey to Babel a few nights ago. Just seeing Sir Patrick Stewart eat up the scenery in that scene alone was as close to epic as you can get. In that mental breakdown, it's almost as if you can feel that same anguish, that same guilt, and it's just one of my favorite moments in the entire Franchise.
TNG often get's criticized as not being respectful to the original and I think the mentality of that is they should bow down to the cast. I mean look at some of the complaints against Relics. Scotty was mistreated, Geordi should have gone out of his way to treat Scotty as royalty, especially in Engineering. Then you had DS9's Trials and Tribble-Ations and my one big complaint against that episode, it was still awesome, was DS9 went out of it's way to bow down to the original series. I see an episode like Sarek, and I think this is more of the crossovers I really wanted to see. Perhaps it's because I came to like Star Trek after TNG and DS9, but this series didn't bow down to the original. They took one of the popular characters, gave him a mental illness, and it was handled in one of the most delicate and respectful ways you could handle it. Also, when the Captain gives up himself to save this man's dignity, I just think how much more respectful can you be.
I know I'm rambling just on the final ten minutes, but this is really why I love TNG. It dealt with things not using action like Voyager or Enterprise, but letting the characters/actors do their thing and just step back. I'm not sure If I would put "Sarek" in my top 10, but it comes really really close. Just another amazing episode to go with an amazing season like Season 3.
